>>615 I've made panettone before. It's rather time consuming if you do it correctly but I liked how it turned out.

>>615 I usually make a Christmas Pudding after a recipe from the Napoleonic Wars, but this year I'm gonna make Nesselrode Cream instead and pair it with some buttered beer instead of the usual brandy-based punches and spiced red port. Chokladbollar are also popular with my family. Here, the recipe and method for the pudding, which can only be recommended: >1 cup flour >2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (old air-dried bread, blitzed or crushed, do not use store-bought, they're oven-dried and ruin the texture) >0.5 cup dark brown sugar, well-packed >0.5 tsp salt >1 tsp freshly ground cinnamon >mace, nutmeg, ginger, 0.5 tsp each, freshly ground >0.25tsp cloves, freshly ground Combine well. Add >1 cup dried currants >1 cup raisins >1 cup sultanas >Zest of 0.5 lemon, coarsely chopped >0.33 cup candied orange peel, coarsely chopped >0.33 cup candied citron, coarsely chopped >0.75 cup slivered almonds Mix. Add >0.25 pound suet, Atora brand suffices Mix. Add >3 eggs, lightly beaten >0.5 cup of brandy Work mixture well to form a nice dough. Scrape into 6 cup pudding basin (Can be bought cheaply on Amazon, or can be substituted by a new flower pot of good quality with no holes in the bottom or anything else with a similar shape). Put a freshly washed cloth (canvas is good, but an old shirt or non-fluffy towel suffices) into boiling water for a second so it's wet all over. Squeeze out the water and lay it out, then lightly flour the entire surface. Put it, flour-side down, on top of your pudding basin and put some twine (if hemp, boil it for a couple minutes first to get rid of bad smell) under the rim, securing it with a butcher's knot. Then take the flaps of your cloth and tie them round the top, creating a handle. Place in a large pot of boiling water with some wooden skewers or some other spacer in the bottom, ensuring the boiling water does not go over the lip of the pudding basin, but close to it. Cover and let steam for 5 hours, refilling with boiling water as necessary. Don't open too often. Take out and let cool. Remove cloth, pour in >0.25 cup of brandy taking care to distribute it evenly. Cover well and store in a cool place for at least 3 weeks, but one aged a whole year is even better. If you store it longer, you may want to occasionally re-brandy. On Christmas day, tie the pudding up again, steam it again for at least 2 hours, unmould. Serve en flambé by heating a quarter cup brandy to 50 degrees or so and pouring it over the hot pudding as you serve, then lighting it. It is quite rich on its own, but if you wish for more, serve with hard sauce, which consists of 0.5 cups of butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tbsp brandy, beaten to a fluffy consistency. Ensure you serve with enough spirits, possibly some digestive bitters, because it fills up the stomach like a heavy meal. Never fails to produce great satisfaction in all.

>>616 Did you buy the specific mold, or did you try your hand at experimenting with pans you had already? >>618 My mom has made Christmas pudding in the past and the flambé part is always a showstopper. I'll have to compare the recipe she uses to the one you posted. Are the chokladbollar you make similar to this recipe? https://www.food.com/recipe/no-bake-chocolate-cookies-chokladbollar-423911 Never heard of them before, but I would be willing to try.

>>624 Yeah, that's pretty much it. I prefer to make them a day in advance and put them in the fridge, that makes the texture softer.

>>624 >Did you buy the specific mold, or did you try your hand at experimenting with pans you had already? Nope I used buttered parchment paper and I baked it in a sauce pot that I temporarily removed the melmac handles from. Since then I bought some actual molds but I never got around to actually trying it again. Maybe I will this year.

>>627 Cheers, I will try them out. >>628 Hmm, that pot idea sounds good actually. Might try the panettone in that case if it worked out for you.

>>615 I tried out a great idea recently: Buttered Beer Pie. <Pie dough <230ml beer (Kilkenny Irish Red Ale) <1 egg yolk <50-60g sugar <1 tiny bit of ground ginger <1 tiny bit of cloves <1 tiny bit of nutmeg <quarter cup of flour <a tsp or so of vanilla extract <2-3 tbsp butter in flakes Pre-bake pie shell, pierced but not through, 20 minutes at 200 degrees with beans, then 6 to 8 minutes without Brush inside with egg wash (1 egg with 1 tablespoon water) to seal Cover edge of pie crust with aluminium foil to prevent overbrowning Mix beer and yolk Pour in beer, sugar with spices and flour, sprinkle over vanilla 200C at 30 minutes, cover dough with foil, reduce to 190C for another 30 minutes Cool to room temperature, put in fridge for a couple of hours Put some crushed banana chips on top if you want

I made some gingerbread and sugar cookies this weekend. The sugar cookies had some sourdough in them and were great, but I'm a sucker for spices. Gonna see if I can make gingerbread sourdough cookies next. But that's for next weekend. >>658 Man, this recipe sounds intense. Does the beer flavour actually come through, or is it more the nodes of the barley popping out? I'm thinking an oat or chocolate stout, but even then...

>>658 Noticed a typo, that was meant to read <330ml beer >>659 It actually tastes exactly like a buttered beer, it's amazing how accurate it is. Granted, a buttered beer doesn't taste that much of beer, you get the fruitiness of hops and quite a bit of malt, but not so much bitterness.

>>660 I talked to my friend about the recipe and he said it sounded great. If he decides to do anything with it, I shall report results.

This week has been a lot of baking festive breads. First I made the kletzenbrot I was planning on making. I gave one away to family, so the other small loaf got finished pretty quickly. Absolutely great, will make another batch this week to give away to other family members. Second, I made kerststol today after having made the almond paste around two weeks ago. Kerststol is very similar to German stollen, but almond paste is put in the middle. Since I wanted to do a more luxurious version, I went with the almond paste. I didn't dust the top with icing sugar, which would be typical. I'd say I prefer the kletzenbrot, but the lemon zest in the almond paste is quite nice.

I'm thinking about making Mämmi but I can't find powdered rye malt. Can I use barley malt instead or could I grind whole rye malt in a blender? Are there any Finnish anons here that could give me any pointers about how not to make a pigs ear of it?

>>675 You can grind anything to powder in a blender or a coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle. Not a fin though.

>>675 Food processor might work better if you have one, but a blender does basically the same thing. Failing that, try a mortar and pestle. >>669 Got a recipe you recommend for any of those?

Happy St. Lucia fuckers. Made some lussekatter (St. Lucia buns) for the occasion. I'm poor so no saffron. I followed this recipe (https://true-north-kitchen.com/st-lucia-buns-lussekatter/), but I've followed other recipes in the past. Otherwise, made some joulutorttu/tähtitorttu (aka swastika cookies as they've been called in our house) yesterday using cream cheese (normally you use ricotta). Apart from them opening up at the centre, they turned out pretty well. It's a very nice cookie because it's barely sweet. You normally dust with icing sugar, but I didn't do that because they were eaten in a flash. You also use prune jam typically, but I used some pear sauce and boozy canned blueberries and blackberries. They certainly leaked everywhere, but tasted great. I followed this recipe: http://www.sweetpaulmag.com/food/finnish-holiday-cookies >>675 I've never had rye malt before, but I don't see why it wouldn't work to use barley malt instead. You'll get a different flavour in the end, but the essence of the dish should be maintained. As for grinding the rye malt in a blender, I would go with a coffee grinder rather than a blender. That way you can really get it powdery rather than grainy. Since it gets stewed for so long, I doubt it makes a difference, but having never made it, I don't know. >>682 For both, I went with Weekend Bakery (https://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/our-perfect-christmas-stollen/ for the stollen and https://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/weekend-fruit-nuts-loaf-our-not-so-kletzenbrot/ for the kletzenbrot). The kletzenbrot was a sourdough rendition, but if you aren't into that, someone left a comment about making it with instant yeast. Or, looking it up online, they all seem pretty similar. Just try a range of fruit (I'm actually making apfelbrot right now with some apples I dried myself) and nuts (I'm making this one with pumpkin seeds added in).

I always do a rib roast for Christmas but I think I'm going to rip off Alton this year. His technique is much better than mine and he gets a Yorkshire Pudding out of it. I'm already using his Turkey recipe as a base for Thanksgiving so I might as well go all-in.

>>703 Thank you for sharing anon. I like the yorkshire pudding - easily replaces the bread you might serve with a meal.

Anyone got a good recipe for gingerbread cookies?

Made some more cookies. Went ahead and made some thumbprint cookies and the joulutorttu again, but since these were given away, I actually put the powdered sugar on them. I used peach butter which was much better than my previous iterations because it holds together and doesn't leak everywhere. Otherwise, helped my grandmother make tourtières (meat pies) this year. Since she's getting older, I figure now is the time to make and write down family recipes while she still remembers them. In this case, the meat pie uses cream of wheat and bread crumbs to keep the meat (which was a mix of veal and pork this time around) together, and we add cinnamon and nutmeg as flavourings. >>618 I finally made the chokladbollar using coconut oil and coconut liquor. They were actually really good. I'm thinking of making a peanut butter version for next time. Thank you for the suggestion! >>732 I use these (https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2018/12/gingerbread-cookies.html) because they don't need to be chilled beforehand. But if you mean soft gingerbread, then I don't have any recommendations at the moment.

Merry Christmas guys! Final Christmas baking was making some oatmeal cookies for the household and rondo's for family yesterday (https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2016/01/rondos-dutch-treat.html). Otherwise, all other baking is over and done with for today. Have a good one.

Happy new year to everyone! Guess this is the last post here. Had some octopus for new year's eve with family. Made some tarts with almond paste and cranberries for dessert. Still have about 150 g of almond paste in the freezer, so I'll be making another batch of tarts. Otherwise, now is the month of fasting after gorging myself on sweets during December.

>>732 I know it's a bit late but I have a few gingerbread recipes including one for "white gingerbread" and I'll share them if I can ever find that recipe book.

>>762 Please share if you do, I am very curious.

>>764 Good news and bad news. Bad: I've not been able to find my white gingerbread recipe yet even after finding the book I thought it was in. Good: The book does have several gingerbread recipes. 'Gingerbread >1/2 c butter >1 c sugar >1 egg >1 c molassess >1 c sour milk (buttermilk) >1 tsp soda >1 tsp ginger >3 c flour' Cream butter- add sugar beaten egg, molasses and buttermilk + soda Sift flour and ginger together then add to butter mixture and mix thoroughly Pour into a greased pan and bake in a medium oven ------ Sponge Gingerbread >1 c molasses >1/2 c sugar >1/2 c butter >1 tsp ginger >2 tsp soda dissolved in 1 c boiling water >1 tsp cloves >1 tsp cinnamon >1 1/2 c flour >2 eggs Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and beat, then add molasses Add in dry ingredients sifted together alternately with hot water Pour into greased and flowered pan and bake for 40 min at 350

Ginger Cake >1 c sugar >1 c shortening >1 c molasses >1 c boiling water >2 beaten eggs >3 c flour >1 tsp cloves >1/2 tsp ginger >1 tsp cinnamon Cream shortening and add sugar then molasses Add all of boiling water Add all dry ingredients sifted together stirring well Add eggs Bake 350 for 30 to 35 min --- Upside Down Apple Gingerbread ~Batter~ >1/4 c shortening >1/4 c brown sugar >1 beaten egg >1/2 c molasses >1/2 c boiling water or buttermilk >1 1/4 c flour >1/4 tsp salt >3/4 tsp sugar >1/2 tsp cinnamon >3/4 tsp soda Cream shortening, gradually add sugar and continue creaming add egg and molasses and beat Add alternately water (or buttermilk) with flour sifted with dry ingredients Pour over apples ~Apples~ >2 tsp butter >1 tsp cinnamon >1 c brown sugar >3 or 4 tart apples sliced thin Bake 350 for 30 to 40 min. More ginger bread recipes to follow as I find them.

>>779 >>780 Thank you for sharing the recipes! That apple one looks right up my alley. >Pour into a greased pan and bake in a medium oven I imagine you mean at 350 deg F for around thirty minutes?

>>787 I'm still searching for other gingerbread recipes. I'll upload more as I can find them. >I imagine you mean at 350 deg F for around thirty minutes? Yeah that's what I figure the recipe meant.

I'd love to bake a panettone for the sake of hanging it upside-down.

>>798 I'd suggest you try it. Even if it "fails" it would still end up pretty good.

>>780 I made the upside down apple gingerbread cake. Might be past the holidays, but winter still calls for gingerbread. I used 1/8 cup of bacon fat and 1/8 cup of applesauce to replace the shortening and used the boiling water. I used part fancy molasses and part blackstrap. For the apples, I ended up using only two apples and smeared the bottom and sides of the cake pan (a 9-inch round one) with coconut oil rather than add the butter to the mix. For the apples at the bottom, I went with a concentric design, overlapping the apple slices slightly. It was perhaps futile given that the gingerbread cake mostly covered it, but whatever. Cake is good, but very sweet. I would probably reduce the molasses and brown sugar in the cake and reduce the sugar for the apples to half a cup. As well, might be fun to try this recipe with cranberries or very tart apples (like crabapples) rather than the slightly tart variety I went with.

>>886 That much apple seems kind of cross, how is it?

>>889 I will say that my pan was probably half apple and half batter by the end, and I only used two small-ish apples rather than the three to four recommended. But since molasses cake is so strong, it wasn't super apple-flavoured in the end. If you'd rather have the apple at the base rather than in the centre of the cake, it might be worth it to cut only one up and assess before proceeding.

>>889 You can never have too much fruit in a fruit cake.

>>886 That looked like it turned out pretty well. I'll have to try it some time this year.

Actually since I've not been able to find anymore gingerbread for the time being and that apple ginger cake looks so good I'll see if I can find my recipe for an apple stack cake. It's one of my favorite holiday cakes.

>>905 Actually make that in the fall every year. Shared a recipe here >>626, but if you have another one, please send 'er through!

>>906 I think my recipe is a little different so as soon as I can find it I'll post it.

Here we go. 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon 2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 1 cup vegetable shortening 2 large eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup buttermilk apple filling (see below) confectioners sugar Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease and flour 9- in. cake pans. Combine flour, soda, powder, salt, and cinnamon- set aside. Cream brown sugar and shortening 2 to 3 min. Then beat in eggs and vanilla. On low speed beat in flour mixture alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Divide dough into 7 or 8 portions. Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Stack with hot apple filling between layers. Sift confectioners sugar over top before serving. Apple Filling 5 cups water 1 lb. dried apples 2 cups packed brown sugar 2 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg 1/2 tsp cround cloves 1/4 tsp milk Bring to boil in a large pot or dutch oven. Chop dried apples in a blender. Add apples to water. Cook uncovered over med. heat until all water is absorbs (around 20 to 25 min.) Add remaning ingredients and simmer 15 min stirring frequently. This cake is a little different than the one my grandma use to make. It starts dry and you need to allow it to set at least 24 hours to meld in a cool place. Longer is even better. BTW that apple filling recipe is great for fried apple pies too.

>>924 >It starts dry and you need to allow it to set at least 24 hours to meld in a cool place. Longer is even better. From the little research I've done, I read that was the typical recommendation for most apple stack cake recipes. Also, I will recommend using apple cider or apple juice for the apple filling instead of water - it just gives you that much more appleness to the dish.